Fresh from leading the Indian cricket team to victory in the Zimbabwe tour, Virat Kohli is the toast of the season, and the 24-year-old got a taste of stardom at a recent event in the Capital.

Girls flocked to the cricketer’s vanity van with flowers and gifts requesting anyone who was willing to listen to get them to talk with him. When we caught up on all that female adulation over a chat, he said that he tries to stay away from it.

“I’m glad that I don’t have to stand there and be mauled but I don’t really look into it too much. It’s something I choose to stay away from. I don’t want to get into it too much because it can give you a high head and you can stop focusing on what you have to do. It feels nice when people appreciate what you do, love you, like you. You can take confidence from that and not fly high and stop focusing on the reason that’s giving you that. It feels nice but I try and stay away from it.”

While there’s stuff fans do that he loves, there’s stuff that disturbs the cricketer. For instance, letters in blood. “I have got a couple recently. It doesn’t feel nice. Honestly, it’s very passionate of the person to do it but at a personal level, it doesn’t feel nice at all. You don’t want someone taking out blood for you. It feels very weird.”

But talking about special gestures from fans, he says, “I’ve had a fan who made a painting of my face with her fingers. I have put it up in my room. It was sweet and very different,” he says.

The cricketer, who intends to catch up on some movies, says he was blown away by Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and personally congratulated Farhan Akhtar for the film. Next up, he says, there should be a biopic on cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. “I really want a movie made on Sachin Tendulkar’s life. That is something I’m looking forward to. There will be so much emotion to that movie. How one man has given so much happiness to the country for 23 years ... it’s no joke. What people have seen on field is him giving them happiness, but how would he have felt as an individual under all the pressure and those situations — I would love to see that.”

Biopics on sportspersons reveal it’s not all about fame

Kohli says that biopics on sportspersons give out a message and it’s a good trend. “I think all these movies make us realise how much we should appreciate a sportsperson who has sacrificed so much in life. That’s one message these movies give us.” he says.

“As a sportsperson, it (these biopics) motivates me much more and you find another reason to get motivated thinking that this is what actually happens and people are finally showing it on tv. ..that it’s not all about money, good life fame, adulation. It’s about how much you’ve struggled, worked out, how much emotion there is from you and your family. When the whole package is portrayed, it gets very emotional ,” says the cricketer who was in town to attend the Cinthol# challenge Virat event.

Would he ever consider joining Bollywood?I have been encouraged by a few people that you can and you should. I intend to stick to one profession that I have loved and go in that path. Even when I leave it, I don’t want to look at another profession,” he says.